Is There a Better Way to Make a Martini? | PUNCH | 1.20.17
"Cocktail science has advanced a long way since the day of The Hour, which first appeared in 1948. We now know each technique for mixing a Martini possesses its own unique qualities, and can deliver tangible variations on the final product, while keeping all else equal…'" (Photo: Lizzie Munro) | Read full story

What’s in Your Well? | PUNCH | 4.28.16
"Economists have a nifty saying, widely attributed to none other than John F. Kennedy: 'A rising tide lifts all boats,' the esteemed president said, 'and so, too, does it elevate all the booze onboard…'" (Photo: Lizzie Munro) | Read full story

Inside Kenta Goto’s Reinvention of the Japanese Cocktail Bar | PUNCH | 8.24.15
"Award-winning bartender and Tokyo transplant Kenta Goto sited his first solo venture less than a mile east of his former office, the legendary New York City cocktail bar Pegu Club. But to conceive the spirit of the eponymous Bar Goto—tucked down a street he says is 'relatively quiet' for Manhattan’s nouveau nexus of nightlife the Lower East Side—he reached a few thousand miles farther…" (Photo: Daniel Krieger) | Read full story

15-Second Cocktail: The New Manhattan | FWx | 2.23.14
"Easy, bold, a Manhattan—whiskey, vermouth, bitters—is the wintry choice for Negroni drinkers. For Italian American boosters and herbal amaro lovers, Molly Cohen, of NYC's Hundred Acres, is currently offering a new take on the Manhattan called the Ellis Island…" | See the video

15-Second Cocktail: El Shandy Mixes Beer and Mezcal | FWx | 3.3.14
"The shandy—traditionally a one-to-one mix of beer and lemonade or soda—has shed its summer-only reputation. Today's bartenders are riffing on this humble beertail to create delicious cocktails that are as versatile as they are super easy to make…" | See the video

The United States of Absinthe | PUNCH | 12.11.13
"The U.S. has become an unlikely homebase for absinthe's new avant-garde. Mixing a distinct sense of American innovation with tradition, the country's distillers are shaping the modern identity of this historical misfit…" | Read full story

Revamping Rum and Coke With Kola Nuts at Betony, NYC | Serious Drinks | 1.21.14
"Rockey points out that, like all well-known cocktails, there must be something inherently good about the traditional concoction that lent it popularity in the first place. The key is to tease out out the essence of its appeal..." | Read full story

Trend Alert: 7 Sherry Cocktails You Need to Try | ZAGAT New York City | 1.9.14
"The Spanish-made fortified wine comes in a remarkable array of styles, ranging from light and dry to rich and caramel-sweet. It's no wonder why bartenders at New York's innovative drinking dens are obsessed with the stuff…" | Read full story

What to Drink at Keens Steakhouse, New York | Serious Drinks | 11.14.13
"Oh, if Miss Keens could talk. From her cozy perch upon a lion's-head divan, she of little clothes and stoic guise calmly watches over the drinkers who pile into her barroom nightly…" | Read full story

Cozy Up to Well-Crafted Cocktails at Wallflower in the West Village | Serious Drinks | 10.31.13
"A delightful little cocktail bar has cropped up in the West Village. This newly opened 45-seater goes by the name Wallflower, but it's hardly the shy type…" | Read full story

Where to Buy Spirits in Manhattan: The Best Liquor Stores | Serious Drinks | 10.22.13
"Manhattan is one great place to shop for booze. It's almost crazy how much square footage of this oh-so precious sliver of schist has been given over to the sale of bottled alcoholic beverages…" | Read full story

An Ode to The Charleston, a Neighborhood Bar in Chicago's Bucktown | Serious Drinks | 9.6.13
"Late summer's long yawn of twilight still has its hold on the bar's front entrance, picking out every tortured fiber of the scuffed wooden floor—an artifact of ten thousand tides of revelry…" | Read full story

6 Aperitif Cocktail Recipes That'll Whet Any Appetite | Refinery29 Chicago | 6.26.13
"The Europeans have summer figured out. Some countries even treat August like a national holiday. Not to mention, their fair-weather wisdom has also given us the aperitif—fragrant, low-proof libations meant to enliven the appetite before a meal…" | Read full story

Ben Schiller's cocktails at Homestead rooftop restaurant | TimeOut Chicago | 6.6.13
"The tequila cocktail features a combination of Pimm's, Peychaud's bitters and housemade kumquat syrup for a citrus-bitter backbone and is garnished with an impossibly thin wheel of grapefruit that Schiller slices with a dutifully honed Japanese chef's knife…" | Read full story

First Look: All the Cocktails at Parson's Chicken & Fish, Chicago | Serious Drinks | 5.31.13
"If adult summer camps were a thing, then a spot like Parson's Chicken & Fish could serve as the genre's commissarial lodestar. It has all the makings of the ultimate fair-weather snack bar…" | Read full story

Behind the Scenes at Letherbee Distillers in Chicago | Serious Drinks | 4.16.13
"One of the first orders of business after I arrived at the cinder-block-walled production facility of Letherbee Distillers, on a clear-skied recent Monday evening, was for the team to mix me a drink…" | Read full story

First Look: Cocktails at Billy Sunday, Chicago | Serious Drinks | 2.22.13
"For all the custom housemade potions he concocts, 'Tradition is the core of it all,' Bachman said. 'And it's important that we respect that and pay homage to what these drinks are.'…" | Read full story

Where to Drink Sour Beer in Chicago | Serious Drinks | 4.22.13
"Lambic. Gueuze. Wild Ale. Oud Bruin. Flanders Red. Berliner Weisse. Lately, when I belly up to new and familiar bars alike and begin dissecting the beer offerings, I hunt for these terms like X's on a treasure map..." | Read full story

All the Cocktails at Acadia, Chicago | Serious Drinks | 2.21.12
"An alum of Chicago's Graham Elliot and a sommelier by training, Simon thinks about the terroir of spirits when he creates drinks, as well how he might be able to expand on the complexity of ingredients by re-using them in different applications within the same cocktail…" | Read full story

First Look: All the Cocktails at Ada Street in Chicago | Serious Drinks | 3.12.12
"Lacey favors clean, unfussy presentations, preferring to let the spirits—which he selects with great care—to speak for themselves. The resulting cocktails—aptly named after pieces of music—tend to sing quite beautifully." | Read full story

The Night Shift: 11 Hours at The Barrelhouse Flat, Chicago | Serious Drinks | 9.10.12
"Fading daylight still pours through the big panes, pooling on the barroom's tiled floor. It's about an hour into the evening service, and the pervading mood is cheerful and relaxed. For the time being, the bar itself remains dressed in full regalia…" | Read full story

First Look: New Spring Cocktails at Trenchermen, Chicago | Serious Drinks | 4.8.13
"Among the new libations the minister previewed for me on a recent afternoon, there was bright pink; deep, ruddy orange; and a coffee brown..." | Read full story

Where Bartenders Drink in Chicago | Serious Drinks | 10.9.12
"Chicago's bar scene is, in a word, democratic. It runs the gamut from the humblest shot-and-a-beer neighborhood dives to some of the most august and innovative craft cocktail destinations in the country." | Read full story

First Look: Cocktails at Telegraph in Chicago | Serious Drinks | 7.16.12
"Quinn wanted to play with the complementary flavors of apple and celery with this drink, and the result is tart, fruity, and refreshing, yet with a lingering depth that speaks to the complexity of its bases." | Read full story

Brew Camp: A Candy Store for Home Brewers | Chicagoist | 8.26.11
"...with more and more beer enthusiasts adopting the hobby of fermenting their own suds, Chicago home brewers Jared Saunders and Whit Nelson realized the community begged for a place to gather, learn, talk shop and gear up." | Read full story

We Go Behind the Scenes at Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago | Serious Drinks | 7.3.12
"Stepping inside the Goose Island Beer Co.'s Fulton Street brewery, which lies on the outskirts of Chicago's West Loop neighborhood, I was struck by the sweet, bready aroma that saturated the warm, humid air. The heat was intense—the brewery runs 24/7 to meet demand—but the smell was welcoming." | Read full story

First Look: Garden-to-Glass Cocktails at Homestead in Chicago | Serious Drinks | 8.7.12
"The fresh lavender blossom that crowns this drink may be homegrown, but most everything else in the glass hails from far afield... Yet this thoroughly international affair turns out harmonious, with a deep well of intriguing flavors to explore." | Read full story

Behind the Scenes at Industry City Distillery, Brooklyn, NY | Serious Drinks | 6.27.12
"...ICD has tasked itself with making vodka instead—a vodka whose quality and scientific precision is second to none. They say that's far more of a challenge than you might suspect. For one thing, they've chosen to custom-build, on the premises, every component of their fermentation and distillation processes." | Read full story

Behind the Scenes at Journeyman Distillery, Three Oaks, Michigan | Serious Drinks | 11.1.11
"The story of Journeyman Distillery, which opened its doors to guests for the first time in early October, rambles across continents and centuries. It's about a building in need of a purpose meeting a man in pursuit of his newfound passion. But first things first: a brief lesson in Tasmanian geography…" | Read full story

5 Sake Cocktails We Love to Drink (and Eat) in Chicago" | Serious Drinks | 9.27.11
"Chicago bars and restaurants have taken a fresh perspective on sake lately, turning out a growing crop of creative, expressive, well-balanced cocktails that honor sake's delicacy while taking advantage of its broad range of flavors and rich texture. And this experimentation is happening where you might least suspect." | Read full story

First Look: All the Gin Drinks at Scofflaw in Chicago | Serious Drinks | 4.17.12
"What gin joint would be complete without a fitting homage to this chameleon of a classic? …Shapiro's dry Martini features three parts to one Martin Miller's Gin and Dolin Dry Vermouth, plus Regan's Orange Bitters and a lemon coin. It's revelatory—bracing, floral, unctuous, fragrant." | Read full story

4 Awesome DIY Cocktail Recipes from Chicago's Yusho | Serious Drinks | 1.25.12
"Bachman, who is coming off a long stint of launching cocktail programs on the West Coast, has put together a broad and endlessly enticing debut menu for Yusho that pays homage to several classics (the Hemingway Daiquiri, the Negroni—to name just two) while also striving to break new ground." | Read full story